Jetstar, the low-cost airline owned by Australia’s Qantas, has been forced to postpone the start of services to Europe following delays in the delivery of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

Alan Joyce, Jetstar’s chief executive, said the problems at Boeing would have a knock-on effect to the start of its new services of at least a few months.

Jetstar had initially hoped to begin services to Europe in early 2009. However, it now expects the timetable to slip until later that year or early 2010.

Qantas had previously said that delays to deliveries from both Boeing and Airbus were causing capacity shortages. However, the shortages have allowed the airline to increase load factors, helping to push profits to record highs.